Weight loss can be fast and sustainable.
By Selen Gulbahce
4 min read
As featured in GOSS Magazine
We've been taught that if weight loss is fast, it can't last — that the only respectable way to change your body is slowly, painfully, over months of restriction. I don't buy it. Fast doesn't have to mean temporary, and sustainable doesn't have to mean slow. What most people are missing isn't willpower. It's the biochemistry of what's actually happening inside the body.
The piece almost everyone skips
In simple terms, stored fat is bound up with acid. When your body is in an acid-producing state, it holds onto that fat more easily — storing the excess is one of the simplest ways to deal with the acid load. To let go of it, the body needs alkaline minerals to buffer that acid. Give it those minerals, through more alkaline foods, and it finally has the support it needs to release what it's been storing.
That's why results come quickly when the principles are followed correctly. In my practice, that often looks like 9 to 26 pounds lost in the first month, with over 80% of clients reaching their goals within two months — and the majority keeping those results for the long term.
Addition, not restriction
One shift changes everything: stop asking what to cut, and start asking what to add. Restriction creates stress, obsession, and the same spiral most of us know too well — I can't have this, I shouldn't eat that. An addition mentality asks a better question: what can I add that will make me feel lighter, clearer, more energised tomorrow?
That's how you can keep pasta, wine, even the occasional fries, and still see your body change. You're not avoiding what feels bad — you're choosing what creates a good feeling. Fear becomes desire, and desire is a far more powerful, far more sustainable engine than guilt ever was.
Your body is the compass
No food is "bad." Pizza and pasta are more acid-producing, so you learn to balance them — a bigger salad, more vegetables that day, a lighter next meal. The goal was never to memorise rules forever. It's to learn your body's language: the hunger and fullness signals, the energy shifts, the way your skin and mood respond. The body is always speaking. Most of us were just never taught how to listen.
A coach that helps you balance, daily.
alkaterra puts the method in your pocket — tell it what you ate, and it shows you the next right move. No rules, no tracking, no guilt.
Get alkaterra on iPhoneAdapted from Selen Gulbahce's cover feature in GOSS Magazine. Wellness coaching, not medical advice — results vary, and you should consult a healthcare provider for medical questions.